Chassagne-Montrachet

1er Cru Clos Saint Jean

Red

Viticulture

We provide traditional manual culture work and care to the vine from november to July: cordon de royat pruning, ploughing, debudding for yield control, shot knitting and only when necessary spraying against the vine diseases.
The time and care we give to the vine is key to wine quality.

Winemaking

First steps include a few days of pre-fermentation cold maceration, followed by about 10 days of alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel tank, skin crushing, ageing partly in oak barrels.
Then comes natural malolactic fermentation at cellar temperature (13 to 14° C).
After 12 months of ageing, the wine is pumped back to one tank for more ageing (6 months) before bottling.

Tasting

2014 vintage appeared particularly open and generous as soon as we started to taste before bottling.

White wines are rich and tasty with fruity and floral notes, carried by a fresh after taste, full of freshness and crispiness, as well as a classy minerality. Complexity is revealed from the first nose to the very final taste.

Since red wines had a lower than usual amount of tannins, they were made accordingly so that the most of the aromatic potential was extracted. Thanks to this careful method, tasting is very pleasant: wines are open, supple, rich in red fruit and spices, structure is solid but velvety. Freshness is the promise of an immediate pleasure and even more after a few years of ageing.

Vintage

Spring was exceptionally warm and dry and started the vine growing cycle earlier than usual (as in 2011).
On June 28, a major climatic change happened with a hail storm (more violent from Meursault to Beaune). After this hail storm, summer remained rather cold and humid. Sun was back only 3 weeks before harvest, that started on september 13 in Chassagne.

To conclude, the right balance between freshness and ripeness is reached thanks to this number of weather épisodes that implied spring high températures, summer rains and return of sunshine in indian summer time.